At this years’s Webbys, BBC News website walked away with  the people’s Voice award for news. Webby Award  is an international award presented annually by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences for excellence on the internet with categories in websites, interactive advertising, online film and video, and mobile.

Included in the list of winners are Pinterest, Google+ and Spotify, all of whom picked up their first Webbys. The Daily Beast won the judges’ award for news website.

The People’s Voice awards sit alongside the judges’ awards and are voted for by online fans. This year nearly 1.5 million votes were cast from more than 200 countries.

The breakout of the year award went to Instagram, the photo-sharing startup recently bought by social media giant Facebook which also won a People’s Special Achievement for Social Change, set up to recognise the impact of the net on political development.

Pinterest and Google+ picked up the more traditional social media award, Pinterest getting the official Webby and Google+ picking up the People’s Voice award.

Commenting on the BBC News website’s win in the news category, editor Steve Herrmann said: “It’s a real honour to win the People’s Voice award once again. This award is hugely appreciated by everyone working to make sure BBC News online remains such a valued service to the public, in the UK and around the world.”

Other Webby winners included FactCheck.org which won the best political website, while spoof news site The Onion picked up five awards including Best Comedy website.

Non-profit organisation TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design), famous for its TED talks, also picked up several gongs this year, including ones for best app, best education site and best use of video.The Webby awards were set up in 1996 and are voted on by a body of web experts. Seen by many as online equivalents of the Oscars, 2012 judges included Twitter co-founder Biz Stone and mobile phone inventor Martin Cooper.

“This year’s winners represent an amazing cross-section of the new and continuing trends we’ve seen across the internet this year,” said David-Michel Davies, executive director of the Webby Awards.

Winners will be honoured at an event in New York on 21 May, where each must deliver a five-word speech.

For more details visit Webbys website to view the complete list in each category